Abstract

IBM Corp. commissioned The Tolly Group to test the SNA (APPN) routing performance and 3270 Interactive (PU Passthrough Gateway) performance of the 2216 Nways Multiaccess Connector Version 1 Release 1.1, and to compare that with Cisco Systems Inc.’s 7507 version 11.1(11) CA (fc1). The test measured application throughput between LAN clients and a mainframe across a pair of Enterprise System Connection (ESCON) channels and six 16 Mbit/s Token Ring LANs. Testing was performed in July of 1997. 

The tests show that the 2216 delivers more than twice the throughput of the 7507 when routing SNA (APPN) traffic from mainframe to LAN via two ESCON 

channels and six Token Ring LANs for 4K-byte RUs. The tests also demonstrate that the 2216 supports 16K-byte SNA RUs for even higher throughput. (The 7507 was unable to complete the 16K- byte RU test successfully.) See figure 1. 

The tests also show that the 2216 delivers two to three times the throughput of the 7507 in PU Passthrough mode when forwarding interactive 3270 traffic, de- pending upon the profile of the traffic. (While the 2216 was able to sustain all LU-LU sessions throughout the course of testing, the 7507 could only sustain about 15% of the offered LU load. Results were based upon transaction rates with active sessions.) See figure 2.